


get out + get gone (this town is only gonna get worse)

by whichlights



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon Backstory, Flashbacks, M/M, Neilmas2019, the reminiscent kind not the trauma kind, tho he does have trauma :/
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-14 18:31:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17513732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whichlights/pseuds/whichlights
Summary: Everyno onestarted somewhere.





	get out + get gone (this town is only gonna get worse)

**Author's Note:**

> this was for day 4 of neilmas- the prompt was kidfic, and i'm terrible.
> 
> title from bloody shirt by to kill a king, because i kept listening to the bastille remix while writing/posting

“You’re doing it wrong,” Kevin snapped at him. “You’re supposed to shoot like  _ this _ .”

“Deja vu, much?” Neil muttered as he followed Kevin’s instructions.

Kevin made a face. “What- oh.”

\---

“You’re doing it wrong,” Kevin said, narrowing his eyes. “You’re supposed to shoot like  _ this _ .”

He demonstrated the swing with his racquet, and Nathaniel nodded, and tried to mimic. Kevin made a face. “Not quite like that.”

“Kevin,” the Master said from the sidelines. “Stop teaching him striker techniques.”

Kevin nodded and went back in line with Riko. Nathaniel shifted uncomfortably. Two against one didn’t seem fair, but he wasn’t going to complain. He just had to be quicker than them. 

And he was quicker than them. Kevin looked at him with a wide, excited smile, like this was someone he enjoyed playing Exy with. Riko looked at him with a narrow, calculated state, like this was someone he could imagine forming into a champion. 

The Master looked at him impassively. Nathaniel was good at figuring out what people were thinking, but not him.

The practice continued. The Master threw out critiques and criticism that may or may not have been intended to be constructive. Nathaniel worked hard to block Kevin and Riko’s shots, and got maybe about one or two every four attempts. 

“That was fun!” Kevin said brightly, afterwards. “I’m pretty sure you’ll be good enough.”

“What happens if I’m not good enough?” 

“Let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about Exy.”

Riko perked up at the mention of talking about Exy, walking over the final five steps to join the conversation. “You’re fast,” he told Nathaniel.

Nathaniel nodded.

“You need more strength, but it’s easier to train strength than speed. A defense line should be fast to keep up with quick strikers.”

It took Nathaniel a few seconds to realize it was a compliment. “Thanks.”

Riko shrugged.

“Why are you scared of checking us?” Kevin narrowed his eyes. “You always hesitate before doing it. It gave us enough time to get away.”

“I’m used to avoiding getting hit, not hitting.” Nathaniel shrugged. “In my little league games, I don’t do that. I guess I just didn’t want to get in trouble here if I checked you too hard. You’re a big deal.”

Riko nodded at his own self importance and Kevin gave a confused head tilt, but the Master walked over. “Come,” he said. “Nathaniel’s father has something to show us.”

Nathaniel paused at that, but dutifully followed Riko and Kevin.

“This is what happens to people who fall out of line, children,” the Master said before Nathaniel’s father tortured and killed a man.

Riko kept all his emotion to his eyes- he didn’t have much to fear. He set the lines.

Kevin looked as horrified as a child who had grown up sheltered and loved should look, but he didn’t run.

To Nathaniel, this was all par for the course. He didn’t react at all. 

“We’re leaving,” His mother said that night.

“Okay.” 

\---

“Deja vu,” Kevin repeated dully. The practice moved on without them like the eye of a hurricane.

“You were a lot nicer in my memory,” Neil pointed out. “I like kid you a lot better.”

“Yeah, well, everyone is nicer before they go through extensive trauma. In my memory you were also a lot nicer.”

Neil shrugged. “Maybe I was. My memory has been faulty before. Riko was still a dick, though.”

Kevin gave a soft laugh. “He was.”

There was a pause.

“Did… what happened, after that day?”

\---

“Mom, where are we going?” He asked softly.

“I’ll tell you later,” she mumbled. “Right now, it’s just  _ away _ , so stay quiet.”

He nodded and stayed quiet. 

She had taken the car, loaded him into the trunk, disguised by layers of packed bags and laundry. He had water, but that was about it. 

She didn’t stop for a while. He drank his water and kept quiet. 

When the trunk opened, he didn’t move until he heard his mother whisper, “Abram.”

He looked up. “Where are we?”

“New York. Come on, we’re going to England, get up.”

He got up. 

\---

“She put you in a  _ trunk _ ?” Nicky looked horrified. 

Neil shrugged. “It was to keep me safe. We ditched the car after that, and went to Uncle Stuart’s for a bit, but-”

“No, wait, I’m still not over the fact that your mother put you in a  _ trunk _ .”

“I am. Do you want to hear the story or not?”

“God… go ahead.”

\---

After England was France. Then after France was Germany. Then after Germany Europe didn’t feel safe anymore so they went back to the States.

It was a hop from West Coast city to West Coast city. It was a hop from name to name to name to name. 

It was a chance at survival, so, what were they supposed to do?

He remembered nights spent in motels and the back seats of cars. Never alleys- his mother was paranoid about sleeping out in the open. She had good reason to be. 

He’d grown up a traveler, with twenty two names to show for it. He still knew his aliases like the back of his hand- how to act like them, talk like them, walk like them, look like them, hide like them. It was just life. 

\---

“That’s…” Matt looked at him pitifully. 

Neil shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

“I guess that’s why you don’t get jetlag, huh?”

“Lots of practice avoiding it.”

“Alright then.”

\---

His mother died in Seattle. He still remembered the  _ sound _ \- soft gasps, a wet squelch, a low moan of pain as they ran away. Ducking through alleyways, stealing a car and running, leaving leaving leaving. He didn’t know yet. He didn’t know yet what was happening, just that she was in pain.

“Abram.”

That’s when he knew.

\---

“Abram,” Andrew muttered. Neil looked at him. “Thank you for telling me.”

“It’s just the truth.”

“The whole truth. It’s not always an easy thing to say.” Neil knows that when Andrew says something like that, he’s relating to Neil as well as comforting him, so he doesn’t fight it.

“Your childhood is a mess,” he said. 

“That’s why we’re giving the cats a better one,” Neil joked. 

Andrew rolled his eyes. “Of course.” He tried to make it a deadpan, but a little bit of emotion slipped through anyways. 

Of course. 

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is witchlightsands, and i love this sad, smelly basard


End file.
